The Future: No such thing as an EdTech company

In the Stone Age, before modern medicines were developed, herbs ruled. The doctors that existed then (we call them native doctors in Africa) prescribed herbs and prepared concoctions for their patients. Centuries later, few good men went to invent medicines, machines/tools, therapies and the likes that now dominate the practice of medicine. To be a doctor or hospital today, one must effectively deploy all these new tools to treat patients.

The same shift will happen in education. Today, the buzz word is fast becoming EdTech. Funky as it sound, I think the word or the meaning behind it will lose value over the next few years. In the future I see, every education company (think schools, Universities etc) will eventually become a technology company. To stay relevant, schools will need to effectively deploy the new tools that will be developed or risk going out of business (emm, some are already shutting down anyway).

For an entity to be termed “educational institution”, it must have technology at its core in some way. Teachers of the future will be those who will use new tools and techniques to impart knowledge and create inspiring learning experiences for the students. Needless to say, the students will breathe technology.

Leaders of the past few decades in education have been names like Pearson and the likes, basking in the glory of having the largest printing press, campus etc. Leaders of the future will boast about the degree of impact of the tools and technology they deploy. It will simply be a game of zeros and ones. From companies improving numeracy skills of kids in remote Africa to established online versities combining both virtual reality and artificial intelligence to replace classroom experience. The future of education will certainly take a different shape.